The Hawk and the Moon
by Broly Kai
Summary: While returning from an assassination, Altaïr runs into a childhood friend of his he has not seen since he was 11. He does not recognize her at first, but it doesn't take long for him to remember her. This is an AU! Ezio is mentioned in it, so don't flip out about it please. Also, this is just a one, long chapter one shot I did with Altaïr and an OC of mine. Rated M just in case!


**A/N: Sup everyone! I got something a little different for you all than what I usually do. This isn't a book, instead, it's a one shot with one chapter (a longer one than what I usually write, anyways) with Altaïr from the first Assassin's Creed (and my favorite Assassin! :D ) and my OC I made for the game. Yes, I have read the Assassin's Creed book _Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade: The Untold Story of_ _Altaïr-the Master Assassin_ by Oliver Bowden, so I know about his past and what happens after the first game. If you haven't read the book, there are spoilers in here, so...yeah, just letting you know. So don't say I didn't warn you :P. ALSO, I'm gonna be honest and tell you guys that I was NOT planning on posting this. I showed it to my friend, Light in the Dark 2.0, and she pretty said I'd be an idiot for not posting it since she thought it was so good. Sooo, if you like it, you should go thank her too (she writes really good books too by the way). If you don't like it...well...yeah XD. I would greatly appreciate any reviews for this, I've never done this before and I think I'd feel better knowing what you guys thought of it. You could even PM me or message me on my Facebook page. Also, this takes place wayyy before Assassin's Creed, and Ezio is mentioned in this. So yeah, let's get on with it then :).**

* * *

Altaïr was hiding in a cart full of hay, waiting for the guards chasing him to run passed him. He heard the sound of running footsteps and yelling get closer for a split second before fading away in the distance. He sighed a bit, but he kept it quiet, he didn't leave the cart yet though since they could come back any second. After a few seconds, however, something suddenly slammed into his back from above and there was a slight, quiet surprised cry.

 _"_ _What the hell?!'"_ He though before turning himself around, hoping it wasn't a guard. What he saw, however, surprised him, another assassin was right on top of him, but this one was a female and was wearing black and blue robes instead of white and red. _'What...?'_ He thought, there weren't any female assassins in the Brotherhood.

She stared at him in shock for a moment, but her eyes were completely blocked out from her hood. Their faces were literally inches away from each other too, so she was blushing, and he was trying his best not to blush. "I-I'm sorry!" She said, quickly jumping out of the cart full of hay. She was breathing heavily though, which caught his attention, something else that caught his attention was the new patch of bright red blood on his robes.

 _"She's hurt...?"_ He thought.

"There she is! Get her!" He heard someone yell right above him not a second after her thought that.

"S-shit...!" She said, starting to turn and run through the busy streets of Jerusalem.

Altaïr watched through some gaps in the hay as she limped away and several guards chased her. She was holding her stomach tightly and had a large cut on her leg, blood dripping onto the ground as she forced herself to run. Altaïr knew she wasn't going to last long, though. He jumped out of the cart of hay, ran to a building, climbed up the wall, and chased after them on the rooftops. He caught up to them pretty quickly, but when he did, he saw that the guards had caught up to her and she was being forced to fight them. It was obvious who was winning though, she had several new injuries on her that were bleeding heavily, and she winced in pain every time she moved.

"You're dead, assassin!" A guard growled as he lunged at her.

She quickly brought her sword up to block, and the sound of metal hitting metal echoed in the streets. But the leg that had a gash was weak and it gave out under the weight, forcing her to a kneeling position, however, she kept blocking his attack somehow. Altaïr watched for a moment, he was going to jump in soon, he just had to wait for the right moment. As he was watching, he noticed a guard coming up behind her to attack her, if he did, then she would be dead.

He waited a split second before jumping into the air, snapping his wrist to activate his hidden blade, and, with the sound of a knife cutting flesh and a thud, he plunged his knife into the guard's neck. He let out a strangled cry before collapsing on the ground, dead. The other guards immediately looked at him with shocked expressions, the female assassin too, but she quickly got over it and pushed the stunned guard back, plunging her sword into his stomach at an angle. He let out a cry before collapsing, dead on the ground with a puddle of blood forming under him.

Altaïr smirked a bit, she wasn't as helpless as he thought. She managed to stand on shaky legs and take a fighting stance again, her shoulders heaving up and down and she breathed heavily. She didn't have much strength left, but it was obvious she was willing to die fighting, something that caught Altaïr's interest. But he shook it off for now and got ready to fight as well, a few guards wouldn't be a problem for a Master Assassin like him, but he would also have to watch out for the other assassin next to him. The guards hesitated a moment before they rushed at the two assassins. Several minutes passed as the assassins fought off the guards, but in the end, all the guards lay dead on the ground. The female assassin had actually done a decent job of fighting after he started to help her, but she was barely able to stand now. Altaïr was curious as to how she attracted so many guards though and he looked at her

"Why were all those guards cha-" He suddenly stopped in mid-sentence thought to catch her as her legs gave out and she collapsed. "Are you alright?!" He asked, but there was no reply, she was unconscious. 'Dammit!' He thought before picking her up, tucking her sword in his belt next to his, and making his way to the Assassin's Bureau, being careful to avoid guards.

* * *

"What the hell happened?!" Malik asked when Altaïr entered the room with the still unconscious female assassin.

Altaïr looked at him. "How should I know? I was going to ask her that before she blacked out." He replied as he gently set her down on some cushions that were laid out on the floor.

"Why didn't you watch her?!" He asked again as he hurried over with medical supplies.

Altaïr looked at him again, this time in confusion. "What are you talking about? I was returning from my mission when she ran into me, guards were already chasing her, so I caught up to them and helped."

"You killed him already?!"

"Of course I did."

"I wasn't expecting that..."

"What do you mean?"

Malik looked at him. "Just get some rest, I'll explain it all to you after I take care of her."

Altaïr didn't do anything for a while, but he eventually left them and sat down on another set of cushions, sighing heavily. He stole a glance at Malik and the female every once in a while though, wondering who she was and what Malik was talking about. He shifted around a bit to get more comfortable, but he suddenly felt a twinge of pain in his back and he winced a bit.

 _"The hell...?"_ He thought at first, but then he remembered that she had slammed into him while he was hiding.

He would've been mad at her for that now that he remembered that, but she was trying to get away from several guards, so he couldn't really blame her. He had to admit though, he was worried about her for some reason. He looked over at her and Malik again, her shirt was off now, but there was a blanket draped over her chest while Malik worked on her injuries. She was lucky she found him and Malik was tending to her wounds, he was pretty good with his hands on things like that. He sighed again and leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes lightly as he waited.

* * *

"I know I told you to rest, but I didn't think you'd fall asleep." Altaïr suddenly heard Malik say from next to him, waking him up immediately.

He straightened up and looked up at Malik. "Why wouldn't I take this chance to sleep?" He asked. He looked at where the female assassin was to see her still on the cushions, she was bandaged up now and was covered by a blanket as she slept. "So, what were you talking about before?"

Malik sat down across from him. "Her name is Masina, the Master has been training her in secret apparently. He felt that she was ready to start going on missions, so he sent her here, but he sent a pigeon ahead of time to give me the details."

"I guess she wasn't ready after all then?"

"No, she was."

Altaïr looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

Malik looked back at him. "The Master said that she was trained very well in the Order, she was better than some of the male assassins as well."

"Then what happened?"

"She was looking for you at the execution site."

That took Altaïr back. "Me? Why?"

"The Master has assigned her to you so you can train her more on actual missions."

He stared at Malik in shock. "I can't do that, the Master knows that."

"And yet you have Ezio following you around on most missions."

"That's different."

"How?"

He growled a bit in irritation, he would have to talk to Al Mualim when he returned to Masyaf. "This doesn't explain how she got chased and hurt so easily." He said, changing the subject.

Malik sighed heavily. "You finished the execution faster than I expected, I sent her to look for you and help, but when she arrived she was ambushed by several guards and was injured."

"How do you know she was ambushed?"

"She woke up while I was patching her up. She told me what happened and apologized for failing when it was my fault for underestimating you."

"I see..."

"You should take her with you when you return to Masyaf, and get used to her too, she'll be following you and Ezio around now. But mostly you. The Master says she'll learn from examples, it is the best way to teach her."

He heaved a heavy sigh, growling a bit as well. "Fine..." He growled.

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do. Rest as long as you need to before leaving." He said as he stood up.

"Malik, wait, I have one more question." Altaïr said, stopping him.

He looked at Altaïr. "What is it?"

"Her robes. Why are they different from ours?"

"That should be obvious, Altaïr. She is a female, there are no female scholars anywhere, it would be obvious she was a fake if she tried to blend in with them. Also, the Master wanted her to look different from the rest of us since she is the first female assassin in the Brotherhood. Why, I do not know, I only know what he told me in his letter."

"I see..." Malik nodded before leaving. Altaïr fell silent, but he looked at Masina again. _'Masina... Why does that name sound familiar...?'_ He thought to himself before his eyes widened. _"_ _Wait...it couldn't be...could it...?"_

* * *

-Several years ago-

Altaïr and his father, Umar, were walking to the village market to get some food for supper like they did every night. It seemed like a normal night, it was cool, but humid, there were hardly any people out, and it was quiet. No one would've suspected that a tragic event was about to happen. As they walked, talking to each other happily like always, there was a sudden scream from a nearby house, it was quickly muffled though as if someone was trying to silence the person screaming, but they didn't do it fast enough. Umar and several other assassins heard it and they immediately rushed over to the house where is it came from.

"Stay here." Umar told Altaïr, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Altaïr nodded slowly. "Alright...please be careful, father." He nodded before going inside with a few other assassins.

Masina's mother fell forward with a loud thud, blood spraying from her neck where the assassin had cut her with his dagger. She gasped several times and flopped around on floor for a few seconds before going limp and breathing her last, the light leaving her eyes.

"Mother!" Masina screamed, pulling against the assassin's grip, but he jerked her back and covered her mouth with his hand.

"Keep your mouth shut or we'll kill you too." He whispered in her ear with a grin.

"Why are you doing this?! We've done nothing to you!" Masina's father growled as he struggled against the assassin holding him, filled with rage and sorrow.

"Sorry, we're just following orders." The assassin replied.

"I don't care! We've been faithful to the Creed and have never committed a crime before! This makes no sense! But if you are going to kill me as well, don't do it in front of Masina!"

He chuckled. "I'm sorry, but orders are orders." He said again before plunging his sword into Masina's father's back, going all the way through his stomach.

His eyes widened and he spit out a lot of blood as more blood splattered onto the stone floor from his wound. The assassin wasn't done yet though and jerked his sword to the side, opening a large hole in his stomach and making more blood and his innards spill out onto the floor. He couldn't make any sounds though as he gasped, his limp body twitching uncontrollably in the assassin's arms as his eyes rolled up into his skull, breathing his last. The assassin chuckled and let him fall onto the floor with Masina's mother.

Masina was crying now, not only had she just seen something gruesome and horrifying, but she saw her parents literally get slaughtered right in front of her. "Mother…! Father…!" She screamed again, trying desperately to get away from the assassin and run to her dead parents, but he didn't let go.

"You're turn, you little brat." He told her with a snicker.

Her eyes widened and she started sobbing again. "No...I don't want to die...! Mother...father...help me!" She pleaded as the assassin got out a dagger.

Just then, the door was kicked open and several more assassins came into the room, led by the Master Assassin, Umar. The assassins already in the house froze, looks of fear on their face, the assassins that just came into the room, however, all looked shocked at the sight.

"What the hell is going on?! Why have you killed this family?!" Umar yelled, completely enraged by the assassins' actions.

"Orders, Umar." One said, the one that had killed her father.

"By who?!"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

Umar growled and suddenly threw a knife at him, hitting him in the neck. He let out a strangulated cry before collapsing, dead. "All of you have broken one of the Tenets! 'Stay Your Blade from the Flesh of an Innocent', have you forgotten that?!" He yelled. They were all quiet, the only sound was that of Masina still sobbing and in the assassin's grip. Umar looked at him and Masina, holding out his hand. "Hand her over. Now." He demanded.

The assassin hesitated for a moment, but then he reluctantly gave her to Umar. He took her in his arms and held her gently. "Men, take care of these traitors and give these two a proper burial." He said. The other assassins nodded and he left the room with Masina still crying into his shoulder. He found himself in a bedroom and he sat down on the side of the bed, still holding Masina. "It's alright, it's all over." He told her softly, rubbing her back to calm her down, going from a ticked off assassin to a gentle man.

"Where are mother and father...?" She asked with a shaky voice.

"I'm afraid they're not here anymore..."

"No! They're still alive! I know it!" She cried, trying to escape from him and run back into the other room.

But he held her strongly in his arms, yet gently. "Masina...I know how you feel, I really do, but you can't bring them back or go in there. You've been through too much tonight already, you should get some rest now.

"But mother...and father..."

"It's alright, I promise." She didn't say anything, instead, she kept crying into his shoulder as he stroked her back. Her crying slowly stopped after a few minutes, however, and her breathing changed to slow and deep. Umar gently put her down on the bed and covered her with the blankets before standing up and walking into the other room. "How are things in here?" He asked a nearby assassin.

He looked at Umar. "The assassins have been escorted to the Master and some doctors are taking care of the bodies. We're cleaning up the blood right now as well."

Umar nodded. "Good, thank you. Is Altaïr still outside?"

"Yes."

"Bring him here."

He nodded. "Of course." He said before leaving the house to find Altaïr. A crowd had gathered outside the house, but it was easy to find Altaïr because he was the only 9 year old in the front. "Altaïr, come with me, please, your father wishes to see you." He told the boy.

Altaïr looked up at him for a moment before nodding. "Okay." He followed the assassin inside the house where Umar was waiting, of course, he had to look away from where the red splotches of blood had stained the ground.

"Thank you." Umar said, the assassin bowed before leaving them.

Altaïr looked up at his father. "Father, what happened?"

"Something very tragic." Umar replied before kneeling down in front of Altaïr. "Altaïr, those assassins only left one survivor in this family, a young girl named Masina. She's about the same age as you, she's only a year and a half younger than you. Can you help me watch her tonight? I need to talk with the Master and I need someone I can really count on to watch her and make sure she doesn't do anything reckless if she wakes up. Can you do that for me?"

Altaïr looked at his father again for a moment before smiling and nodding. "Of course I can!"

Umar smiled. "Thank you, Altaïr." He said before ruffling his hair. Altaïr's smile widened when he did that, he really loved his father more than anything. He smiled back before standing up and walking out of the room. "Stay here and make sure nothing happens to them." He told a nearby assassin.

He nodded in response. "Yes sir." Umar nodded back before leaving, heading for the citadel where the Master was.

* * *

-Two years later (After Masina's parents were killed)-

"Father!" Altaïr screamed as he struggled against the grips of the assassins holding him back. He just wanted to be with his father, but the assassins knew better, if they let him go, he would have to witness his father being killed and possibly getting killed himself. "Let me go!" He yelled again, he could hear the sound of horses leaving, but he never heard his father coming back.

Not far behind him was Masina, watching him quietly with tears streaming down her face, even though she was so young, she knew they had killed Umar. She could never forget the sound of steel slicing flesh from that night two years ago. Altaïr suddenly screamed at Ahmad, saying it was his fault, before turning and running away from the crowd, running straight towards Masina.

Masina wanted to comfort him or something so she tried to talk to him. "Altaïr...I'm really sor-" she started, but was stopped when he suddenly shoved her back, making her slam into the wall and cry out in pain. She sank to the ground on weak legs and whimpered, more tears streaming down her face.

"Shut up!" He screamed before running to his father's room.

Masina watched him until he was inside the citadel before tucking her legs close to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, and crying into her knees. People tried to comfort her and told her he was just upset, but she didn't seem to hear them, she was in her own world at this point. Altaïr and Umar were the ones that made her happy again after her parents were killed and made her feel like she had a family again. But now that Umar was dead and Altaïr had pushed her away, despite being surrounded by so many people, she never felt so alone. So empty, yet full of despair.

* * *

Altaïr never saw her again, he thought she had either killed herself as a child or ran away from Masyaf, until now. He watched her as she slept soundly, he couldn't believe that Masina he knew as a child was an assassin now, or that she was assigned to him now, apparently. He couldn't help but wonder why though, the Master already knew what their relationship was like, so why pair them together? He sighed heavily, it was better to not think about it for now. However, his thoughts went back to the day he last saw her, it wasn't until now that he knew she just wanted to help, and he had pushed her away, literally. He knew what he and his father meant to her, so he knew he hurt her on that day without really meaning to, and he never got the chance to apologize to her. Until now. He sighed again though and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall, he would ask her if she remembered first before he apologized, but he would first have to wait for her to wake up.

* * *

Altaïr and Masina were riding their horses back to Masyaf from Jerusalem. They were only going at a walk because of Masina's injuries, even though she told him that she would be fine. They rode in silence, they've barely talked at all since she woke up earlier that morning, and she would keep looking away from him every time their gazes met. Even now she looked down as she followed Altaïr on her black horse. Maybe she did remember that day several years ago, it would explain why she was acting like this. He slowed his chestnut brown horse a bit to match Masina's horse's pace, walking right next to her. She ducked her head even more when he did though.

"Why are you acting like this?" He suddenly asked her.

She glanced up at him, she knew better than to ignore him, he was, after all a Master Assassin, and she was considered a novice. "I...apologize...Master Altaïr..." She said quietly, bowing her head slightly to show respect. "But it is nothing...please don't concern yourself with me..." Altaïr narrowed his eyes as he peered at her, and she ducked her head once again.

He sighed. "You're my apprentice now, and as much as you or I don't like it, we just have to deal with it." He said again.

Masina was quiet though, she didn't say anything, but she was actually glad that she could work with him again, hoping that he would at least be a little happy to see her again, but it apparently wasn't to be. He must've forgotten her over these long years, must've been easy for him though since he was the one that pushed her away. She's spent those long years training hard so she could hopefully impress him or something, and the first time they met since that day was when she screwed up pretty badly. Not that it mattered, he didn't remember her, which felt like she was stabbed in the heart. Also, what he just said about not liking her as an apprentice hit her pretty hard, making her once high spirits sink even more.

"Hold your head up or you won't see where you're going." He told her. She did as she was told, but she kept her gaze forward. He stared at her for a moment, which was when he noticed he couldn't see her eyes at all, or even a strand of her hair. Why was that? The Master obviously didn't want anyone to see her hair or eyes, but why? And now that he thought about t, he couldn't remember what her hair or eyes looked like when they were little for some reason.

"Is there something wrong, Master Altaïr?" She asked after a bit, but she still never looked at him.

"Yeah, a few things, actually." He started. "First of all, just call me Altaïr. Second of all, stop trying to avoid my gaze and look back at me."

She was quiet for a while as she looked down, but not with her head tilted down, she looked down with her eyes only. "Forgive me...Altaïr... I'll scout ahead..." She said quietly before kicking her horse. He neighed before trotting ahead.

Altaïr stared after her, not sure what to think of what just happened. One thing did catch his attention though, when she said "forgive me Altaïr", it sounded like she was apologizing for more than what he pointed out to her. Was she also referring to that day several years ago? Did she think she was the one at fault when he pushed her away? He gritted his teeth and growled a bit, he wasn't mad at her, but at himself. Why did he have to do that to her? Even as a child he knew she was sensitive to things. As far as he knew, she only had the Master caring for her and watching her as she grew up where he had the whole brotherhood. Even so, the Master only acted as a trainer and tutor for her, not as a family member. So who did she have to comfort her all these years? Perhaps no one. Maybe she was still holding onto those feelings even now. Since she was a female, there would've been no way she would've been accepted by the other assassins when she was younger and being trained, so she's had no friends or family members to rely on for help. Altaïr may have lost his family years ago, but he knew the Brotherhood had his back, the other assassins may not accept her into it as easily though.

He sighed and kicked his horse up to a trot to catch up to her. It didn't take long to spot her in the distance though. He kicked his horse once again to speed up and catch up to her faster, but he suddenly slowed his horse down when he realized she was talking to her horse. He leaned forward in the saddle and strained to hear her.

She sighed heavily. "I don't know what I was thinking, Knight... I was actually kind of excited I could be with Altaïr again like when we were little...but he doesn't even remember me... And it's obvious he doesn't like me around..." She stroked her horse's, named Knight, neck softly. "Why did it have to be like this...? I wish things were the same as before that day... No...since both of those days... If neither my parents died...nor his father died...then it wouldn't have ended like this..." She looked down. "I just...don't get it..."

He was quiet, but he understood what she was going through now, she was still shy, but now she had low self-esteem. That wasn't his fault, was it? He waited a few minutes before trotting up next to her, startling her a bit.

"Found anything?" He asked her.

"No..." She replied, looking away from him again.

He sighed. "Masina."

"Yes...?"

"I'm sorry for what I did to you all those years ago. I don't know what I was thinking or doing, but I never meant to hurt you." He told her.

She stared at him in shock, not expecting that at all. "W-what...?"

"Yeah."

She fell silent, but a small smile formed on her lips. _"_ _He does remember me..."_ She thought.

"Hey."

"Yes...?"

"If you need anything, anything at all, come to me, alright? Just like when we were little."

Her smile widened slightly. "Alright...thank you, Altaïr." She looked at him. "I...really missed you."

He looked back at her, as far as he could tell, she looked nice with a smile, and he smiled back. "I know."

* * *

 **A/N: Sooo, what did you guys think...? Was it okay? I really hope so, I haven't done a whole lot of stuff like this with Assassin's Creed, and I've never done a one shot before...so...I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous XD. Please let me know what you guys think in a review, PM, or even a message on my Facebook page if you want, I would like to know how well, or bad, I did. Oh,and one more thing, I called this _The Hawk and the Moon_ because Masina's name means 'Moon' and Altaïr's full name, ****Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, means 'Bird Son of No One', but instead of putting bird, I put hawk. Why? Well...they're assassins that have a lot of their stuff based off hawks/falcons. Also, it sounded cooler :P.** **Thanks a bunch for taking the time to read this too! See ya'll later!**


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